LSU’s Sheila Boykin defeats life-threatening illness

As the effects of the syndrome left her body, Boykin was determined to come back. Collins and the team’s staff put her on an aggressive rehab program, as the muscles in her legs had wasted away. She started lifting weights to get the muscle back, and soon, she was practicing again.

Her coach was impressed, but not surprised. “Sheila has a different level of fight in her,” says Caldwell. “That’s one of the first things that attracted us to her when we were recruiting her. She’s not a quitter. Even when things were looking as bleak as they were, she still found a way to get back.”